What Every Parent Needs to Know About PARCC/LEAP The Who, What, When and Why of High-Stakes Testing

Marrero Academy P – Partnership for A – Assessment of R – Readiness for C – College and C – Careers Testing Dates Phase 1 (ELA and Math) – March 16-20 March 16, 17, and 18 (ELA Performance Based Assessment) March 19 and 20 (Math Performance Based Assessment) Phase 2 (ELA and Math) – May 4-7

Marrero Academy L—Louisiana E—Education A—Assessment P—Program Testing Dates: April 14-17 (All Science and Social Studies)

Who Is Tested? PARCC/LEAP PARCC – 3rd through 8th grade LEAP – 4th and 8th Grade This year’s PARCC test will be the same Performance Based Assessments (PBA) and End of Year (EOY) tests as those taken by students in PARCC-participating districts in states across the country and will include the same questions field tested by nearly 50,000 Louisiana students during spring 2014.

What is Tested? PARCC is a Summative Assessment that assesses what students have learned after 75% of the school year is completed (Phase 1) and 90% of the school year is completed. (Phase 2) The LEAP test is a criterion-referenced test made to assess what is taught in each subject within the grade level

What Do The Scores Mean? PARCC LEAP DESCRIPTION 5 Advanced Superior Performance 4 Mastery Competency Over Challenging Subjects 3 Basic Fundamentals Learned 2 Approaching Basic Not Quite Up-to-Par 1 Unsatisfactory Not Ready for the Next Level of Schooling

LEAP Scaled Score Ranges LEAP GRADE 4 SCIENCE SOC. ST. Achievement Level Scaled Score Range % Advanced 405-500 81 399-500 80 Mastery 360-404 72 353-398 71 Basic 306-359 61 301-352 60 Approaching Basic 263-305 53 272-300 54 Unsatisfactory 100-262 100-271

PARCC Score Ranges - ela Performance Level Level of Text Complexity Range of Accuracy Quality of Evidence 5 Very Complex Moderately Complex Readily Accessible Accurate Explicit and Inferential for all 4 Mostly Accurate 3 Minimally Accurate 2 Inaccurate Explicit Inferential

Parcc score ranges - math Performance Level Description 5 Distinguished Command of Skill 4 Strong Command of Skill 3 Moderate Command of Skill 2 Partial Command of Skill These Performance Scores are applied to each Major Content Skill for 4th Grade

Parcc testing schedule Phase 1 Performance Based Assessment Monday March 16 Tuesday March 17 Wednesday March 18 Thursday March 19 Friday March 20 ELA Unit 1 (75 min) ELA Unit 2 (90 min) ELA Unit 3 (60 min) Math Unit 1 (80 min) Math Unit 2 (70 min) Phase 2 End of Year Assessment Monday May 4 Tuesday May 5 Wednesday May 6 Thursday May 7 Friday May 8 Math Unit 1 (75 min) Math Unit 2 (75 min) ELA Unit 1 (75 min) Make-Up Testing

4th Grade ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

We will look at…… Test Structure and Design PARCC ELA/Literacy Item Types

How will the test be structured? The ELA Portion of the PARCC Test will consist of 3 Units. Each unit will be completed on a different day.

Number of Selected Response Items Task Type # of Passages Claims/ SubClaims Number of Selected Response Items Max # of points for each constr. response Dimensions Measured Literature Analysis Task 2 (1 short and 1 extended) Reading Literature Reading Vocabulary Writing/Written Expression Writing/Knowledge Language Conventions 4 2 3 9 Reading: Comprehension of Key Ideas and Details Written Expression: Development of Idea, organization, and word choice/style Knowledge of Language and Conventions: holistic score based on control of skills Research Simulation Task 3 (2 short texts and 1 extended) Reading Information 6 Narrative Task 1 short text Reading 5 Totals NA 20 6 Reading 36 Writing

# of Selected Response Items End of year assessment # of Texts Type of Text Claims/SubClaims # of Selected Response Items 1 short/medium text 200-400 words Literary Reading/Reading Literature Reading/Reading Vocabulary 4 1 A Medium/Long Length text 400-800 words Informational Reading/Reading Information Reading/Reading vocabulary 7 Totals 13

Changes you will see in the assessment over TIME Questions are no longer just Multiple Choice. They are now Multiple Select, which means there may be more than one answer to a specific question and students will be required to choose a specific number of answers. All answers in the Multiple Choice and Multiple Select questions no longer have answers that are obviously wrong, therefore, allowing the student to easily eliminate those choices. Student will be required to use reasoning skills before choosing a correct answer. Students will be required to not only answer questions on a constructed response, but, they will also be required to give supporting evidence for their answer.

What does all this mean in a nutshell? In ELA/literacy, the PARCC assessments will look much deeper at student writing abilities and critical-thinking skills.

A FEW EXAMPLES: two years ago…… Sample questions showing changes: (based on story reading a passage from “Sarah, Plain and Tall”) 2012-13 Question: “List two things that Sarah will no longer see around her when she comes to live on a prairie farm.” Response: the sea and small house

Last year 2013-14 Sample question(based upon the same passage) “What gift did Sarah send Anna and why was it special?” Response: Sarah sent Anna a book about sea birds. It is something that is special to Sarah because she loves the sea and wants to share what is important to her with Anna.

PARCC ela/literacy item types this year….. Evidence–Based Selected Response This item type appears on the PBA and EOY components of the test. It combines a traditional selected response question with a second selected response question that asks students to provide textual evidence that supports the answer.

For example…. Part A Part B What is the purpose of the braces described in Paragraph 6 of the article? a. They fix broken tree limbs, so a tree house will not fall down. b. They lock several trees together, so almost any kind of tree can be used. c. They join two trees into one unit, so a tree house looks secure. d. They help trees hold up a tree house, so the trees will not break. Part B Which two details from the article help support the answer to Part A? a. “Designing unique tree houses may sound tough, but Jonathan says it’s no sweat.” b. “Hardwoods such as oak, maple and hickory make the best trees for houses but I did once build a wonderful tree house in a crabapple tree.” c. “My tree house is in two trees-and oak and a fir-and has three posts to support the weight.” d. “As a certified arborist, Jonathan tries to never harm the trees.” e. “The tree’s center of gravity is at the top and the end of its branches, so I build a house down at the center of the tree..” f. “The tree grows over the artificial limbs, and they become part of the tree..”

PROSE CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE This item appears only on the PBA component. It comes at the end of each of the PBA tasks and asks students to create and extended and complete written response. It elicits evidence that students have understood a text or texts that they have read and can communicate that understanding well, both in terms of written expression and knowledge of language and conventions.

For example…. Question: You have read a passage from “The Wild Horses of Assateague Island,” “Wild Ponies of Chincoteague,” and “In Thunder Rain, Chincoteague Ponies Make Annual Swim.” Think about the illustrations from the passages and how they help the reader learn more about the ponies. Write an essay explaining what can be learned from the illustrations about the lives of the ponies described in the passages. Include details from all three sources in your explanation.

Mathematics PARCC Test Prep 4th Grade Mathematics PARCC Test Prep

PARCC Mathematics Each of PARCC’s summative mathematics assessments in grade 4 has a total of 2 points. The Phase 1 – Performance Based Assessment has 38 points and the Phase 2 End-of-the-Year Assessment has 44 points. Students results on both Phases will be combined to produce an overall mathematics score. Each item (question) on the PARCC is referred to as a task and is identified by one of three types: Type I, Type II, and Type III. Each type requires students to respond in a different way. Please stress to your children to show all their work and to check over each problem in the Math section. Careless mistakes can really hurt you in these sections.

PARCC Mathematics Structure of the Test: Task Type Description Scoring Method Type I Conceptual understanding, fluency, and application Computer Scored Only Type II Written arguments/justifications, critique of reasoning, or precision in mathematical statements A mix of computer scored and hand scored tasks Type III Modeling/application in a real-world context or scenario

Percentage of assessment points by task Performance Based Assessment – Phase 1 Type I 12/38 (32%) Type II 14/38 (36%) Type III End of Year Assessment – Phase 2 Type I (1 point) 28/44 (64%) Type I (2 point) 16/44 (36%)

PARCC Mathematics Test Breakdown: Test Coverage Reporting Standards Major 70% of PARCC Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Place Value, Problem Solving Supporting 20% of PARCC Multiples, Factors, Measurement and Data (conversions) Additional 10% of PARCC Measurement and Data (Angle Measurement), Geometry

What is New this Year in Math? Students will have to solve complex problems, show their work, and demonstrate how they solved the problem. Most questions will require students to complete multiple steps in order to solve the problem. Questions are no longer just Multiple Choice. They are now Multiple Select, which means students will have to choose more than one answer for a specific question. The traditional “key words” are no longer being used as a way for students to know what to do to solve the problem. Questions focus more on requiring students to use common sense and comprehension strategies to figure out what to do. For multiple choice items, there are no longer any obviously wrong answers. Gone are the days of using “Process of Elimination”. Answer choices are viable and require students to use more reasoning skills before choosing a correct answer.

Let’s look at some example problems….

Viable answers Mia’s favorite sports team has won 0.42 of its games this season. How can Mia express this decimal as a fraction? 4/20 42/100 4/2 42/10

Multiple steps and viable answers Mary Beth has a bag of 3 different types of candies. The fractions of two types of candies in the bag are listed below. Candies that have nuts:59/100 Candies that have caramel: 2/10 The rest of the candies in the bag have chocolate. What fraction of the candies in Mary Beth’s bag have either nuts or caramel? 61/110 61/100 79/110 79/100

No key words Lily is going to give away all the pieces of candy in a bag. She can give an equal number of pieces of candy to 5, 3, or, 2 people. Which number of pieces of candy could be in Lily’s bag? 12 20 30 45

Sample tasks….

Here’s an example of how the questioning has changed over the last three years….

Let’s look at the progression of questioning through the years……

4th Grade SCIENCE LEAP TEST PREP

This year compared to last year 2014-2015 grade 4 LEAP continues to assess Louisiana’s science benchmarks. The design of the multiple-choice and short answer sessions of the test remains the same as it was in 2013-2014. This year, the LEAP contains a task aligned to the Common Core Standards for English language arts and science benchmarks.

5 Science Strands of Content Science as Inquiry Physical Science Life Science Earth and Space Science Science and the Environment

Suggested testing time Test Structure Test Sessions Number of Items Number of Points Suggested testing time Session 1: Multiple Choice 40 60 minutes Session 2: Short answer 4 8 30 minutes Session 3: Task 4 multiple choice 1 extended response (Multiple choice =1 pt. each, extended response=4 pts.)

Test Specifics Physical Science Strand/Category # of Points MC # of Point CR % of Points Science as Inquiry 8 16 A. Questioning, Planning, Doing and Recording B. Interpreting and communicating Physical Science 2 21 A. Properties of Objects and materials B. Position and Motion of Objects C. Forms of Energy

Test Specifics Strand/ Category # of Points MC # of Points CR Life Science 8 2 21 A. Characteristics of organisms B. Life Cycles of organisms C. Organisms and their environment

Earth and Space Science Science and the Environment Test Specifics Strand/ Category # of Points MC # of Points Cr % of Points Earth and Space Science 8 2 21 A. Properties of Earth materials B. Objects in the Sky Science and the Environment TOTAL 40 100

Test Examples An ocean, a forest, and a grassy meadow are each examples of a complete ecosystem. Complete ecosystems contain only A. animals. B. rocks and water. * C. living and nonliving things. D. populations of plants and animals.

Physical Science

Science as Inquiry

Earth and Space Science

Social Studies LEAP Test Prep 4th grade Social Studies LEAP Test Prep

Social studies The Social Studies portion is untimed. The Social studies portion of the LEAP consists of four sessions: Two multiple choice sessions, one constructed response session, and one session involving a task. The last session involves a task, where students will be asked to use resources to answer questions and complete a writing assignment.

Suggested Testing Time Social Studies Test Structure Test Sessions Number of Items Number of Points Suggested Testing Time Session 1: Multiple Choice 25 40 Minutes Session 2: Multiple Choice Session 3: Constructed Response 2 8 30 Minutes Task 5 40 minutes

Social studies Strands/Categories Items % of Total Points GEOGRAPHY 18 36% CIVICS 10 20% ECONOMICS 7 14% HISTORY 15 30% Total 50 100%

Social studies multiple choice Each multiple choice section has 25 questions, all worth 1 point each. Questions may use charts, graphs, maps, illustrations, and/or political cartoons.

Social studies constructed response The constructed response session consists of two questions, both worth 4 points each. Questions may use charts, graphs, maps, illustrations, and/or political cartoons.

What is new in social studies this year? Social Studies Task……. The task may assess benchmarks from any of the four strands. The task reflects the rigor of Common Core and applies ELA standards for reading informational text and writing to a Social Studies context. The task consists of four multiple-choice items and one extended response item. The items are based on three or four authentic stimulus materials, which are referred to as “documents” in the task. The extended response portion of the task requires students to provide a written response that illustrates how well they can synthesize Social studies content knowledge with evidence from the documents provided. The session consists of 4 multiple choice questions (all worth 1 point) and 1 extended response question that is worth 4 points.

Benchmark Assessments ELA and Math 4th grade Benchmark Assessments ELA and Math

Who will take the benchmark assessment? All 4th and 5th graders in a Jefferson Parish elementary school will take a benchmark assessment in Math and ELA.

What is the Benchmark Assessment? It is a district mandated assessment that will be administered in late April. The assessment is a post assessment tool to measure each student’s level of skill attainment in these subject areas relative to the grade level curriculum. It is a temporary data collection tool that should only be used during this transitional year. This assessment is just as important as PARCC and LEAP and should be treated it as such.

Other Testing Information Tips, Reminders, Practice Info

Hang in There! We are working very hard to make sure your children are being taught what they need to know for the upcoming standardized tests. It is imperative that they study. We know this year is fast paced, but we have to cover a lot of material before the test.

Test Taking Tips Reassure your child. Make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep. Make sure your child eats something nutritious for breakfast. Try to make each morning of testing a pleasant one for your child. Make sure that your child arrives at school ON TIME each morning of testing week. Remind your child to listen carefully to test instructions and to read directions for each question with care.

Test Taking Tips continued.. Tell your child to answer ALL questions. If they come to a question that they don’t know, they can skip it and then come back to it. Since the tests are timed this year, we don’t want to waste the time that we have. Remind your child that the test is important. Explain the importance of using his or her time wisely. Encourage your child to stay focused on the test, even if others finish early. Remind your child to write neatly and follow directions on all Written Response Questions.

Testing Reminders Attendance and promptness during testing is very important. Do not leave anything BLANK! Try every problem. Preparation for the test happens each and every day. Pay attention in class! Read each passage carefully. Do not let the length of the passage discourage you. Relax, Read the directions carefully, and Rejoice!!

Additional Practice/resources LEAP Released Sample Items: www.louisianabelieves.com KidBiz 3000 www.kidbiz3000.com First in Math www.firstinmath.com Parent Resources www.parenttoolkit.com PARCC Resources www.parcconline.org